On Sunday night at Falls Park, the band Shebeen played a song written by Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane in memory of hunger striker Bobby Sands.

McFarlane, who died earlier this year following a short illness, was sentenced to life in prison in 1976 for his role in an attack on the Bayardo Bar on Aberdeen Street in Belfast which killed five people and injured more than 60.

He was Officer Commanding of the IRA in the Maze Prison during the 1981 hunger strikes and in 1983 he took part in a break-out from the prison and went on the run.

McFarlane was re-captured in 1986 and was released from prison in 1997.

At the time of his death, tributes were paid to McFarlane, including from North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly, who described him as a “republican activist all his life right to the end and gave a

See Full Page